Denying Bail
The Arizona Supreme Court got it right: categorical denials of bail to persons charged with sexual assault violates the Constitution. Full Article Also see Is a Categorical Denial of Bail…
NC: High court weighs if tracking sex offenders reasonable
North Carolina's Supreme Court is re-evaluating whether forcing sex offenders to be perpetually tracked by GPS-linked devices, sometimes for the rest of their lives, is justified or a Constitution-violating unreasonable…
TX: Texas Supreme Court to hear sex offender law challenge
The Texas Supreme Court will consider a challenge to the state's retroactive sex offender laws that some say unfairly stack new punishments on those convicted in plea deals. Full Article…
AK: Court – Some sex offenders don’t have to register
In a decision that combined two cases pending before the court, justices said a strict reading of the 1994 Alaska Sex Offender Registration Act does not grant the Alaska Department…
MA: Court Recognizes Harm to Registrants, Rules in Their Favor
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Council, the state's supreme court, has ruled in favor of registrants who were trying either to terminate their duty to register or to change the tier…
PA: Sex predator law challenged by Cosby to get court review
Pennsylvania's highest court will consider whether the state can lawfully designate certain sex offenders as sexually violent predators, as it's seeking to do in the case of Bill Cosby. Cosby's…
Is it an unconstitutional taking of property without just compensation to require sex offenders to move away from their home if a school, etc is established near their home after their initial occupation?
In Mann v. Georgia Department of Corrections,653 S.E.2d 740 (Ga. 2007), the Georgia Supreme Court held that a state statute prohibiting registered sex offenders from living or working within 1,000…
IA: Supreme Court – registration for juvenile sex offenders is punishment
The boy's lawyers argued that the fact that registration as a sex offender was mandatory constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The court's majority opinion written by Chief Justice Mark Cady…
NH: Critics call for change to outdated computer sex crime law
[UPDATED LINKS 6/4/18] When he was 18 years old, ____ ____ propositioned a 15-year-old he knew for sex. Had the two teenagers actually engaged in consensual sex, ____'s crime would…
WI: Supreme Court rules sex offender can be tried as adult for crime committed at age 9
A convicted sex offender in Wisconsin seemed to believe he was off the hook when police learned that he allegedly committed a sexual assault at the age of 9. Full…
IL: Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law banning sex offenders from public parks, overturning a 2017 appeals court ruling that deemed the statute "unconstitutional on its face…
IL: Public Parks Ban is Constitutional (Supreme Court Reversal)
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed an appeals court ruling and found that the state’s ban on sex offenders entering public parks is constitutional. Other Media Quick Take on Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Issued Thursday,…
IN: Justices to decide if sex offender dad can go to son’s school activities
The Indiana Supreme Court must decide if a Howard County father can attend his son’s school activities despite his serious sex offender status after hearing arguments Thursday on an ex…
MI: Supreme Court Hearing Sex Offender Registry Case
[UPDATED LINKS 3/30/18] The Michigan Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case of a man who was placed on the sex offender registry for touching a girl's breasts, even…
IN: Indiana Supreme Court – Sex with minors is OK, but it’s illegal to sext them
In Indiana, it's legal for adults to have consensual sex with minors aged 16 and 17. But it's illegal to sext those same minors, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this…
PA: Pennsylvania Supreme Court finds state sex offender registration law punitive and thus unconstitutional to apply retroactively
In a big opinion today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided its state's sex offender registration law, though civil in design, was punitive in practice and thus cannot be applied retroactively.…
SC: Teens can be kept on sex-offender registry for life
South Carolina can continue to require some teens convicted of serious sex crimes to appear on the state's public sex-offender registry and wear an electronic monitor for the rest of…
NJ: NJ Supreme Court – Sex Offender Can’t Be Banned From Internet Without Due Process
Does the state of New Jersey have the right to enact a lifetime internet ban for a sex offender without giving them due process? That was the question facing the…